After Laika held us over with a neat technical animation showcase in October 2025, the studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings has finally unveiled the first story trailer for its upcoming stop-motion animated film, Wildwood.
Based on the 2011 fantasy novel by author Colin Meloy and illustrator Carson Ellis, Wildwood tells the story of a girl named Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) who wanders into a secret and “dangerously alive” magical forest to rescue her baby brother, Mac (Kellan Tetlow). And based on the nearly two-and-a-half-minute glimpse the official teaser trailer gives us, our hero is in a bit over her head, having to contend with an anthropomorphic army of dogs and a mysterious witch who looks to have grand machinations for her and her little brother. Thankfully, she won’t be confronting these foes alone. From the looks of it, she’ll have the help of a majestic man on horseback and her classmate, Curtis, who cries black ink. Beggars can’t be choosers.
Directed by Travis Knight of Bumblebee fame, Wildwood aims to add another feather to Laika’s already illustrious cap as one of the best stop-motion animation studios of our time. The previous animation showcase revealed that the giant model puppet Prue rides in the trailer required 9,000 individual feathers to handcraft it for takeoff. As if the stop-motion animation on display weren’t dazzling enough, the film also has a star-studded cast behind it. Joining Lee and Tetlow are Mahershala Ali, Amandla Stenberg, Maya Erskine, Angela Bassett, Carey Mulligan, Charlie Day, and Jake Johnson.
In the lead-up to the trailer’s release, Laika promised Wildwood would be its “most ambitious cinematic journey yet,” and we’re inclined to believe the studio. So if you’re amped to see their ambitious, handcrafted artistry on the big screen, you can look forward to checking out Wildwood when it hits theaters on October 23.
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